Mr. Coffee, Carnival Trying New Approach

JEFFERY D. ZBAR ADVERTISING & MARKETING

November 11, 2002|JEFFERY D. ZBAR ADVERTISING & MARKETING

With heavy spending and a fresh spin on their messages, two local companies have launched new advertising campaigns.

The campaigns are for Boca Raton-based Sunbeam Products Inc.'s Mr. Coffee brand coffeemaker and Miami-based Carnival Corp.'s Carnival Cruise Line. Both efforts debuted in a variety of media this month. While the two are dramatically different, both try to reach new consumers. And both come as the brands celebrate 30th anniversaries.

Carnival's new ad campaign, themed "So Much Fun. So Many Places," includes three different television spots that use songs incorporating "fun" in the titles. With no other voice-over, music from the Beach Boys' Fun, Fun, Fun, Cyndi Lauper's Girls Just Want to Have Fun, and Sly & the Family Stone's Hot Fun in the Summertime are set to quick, snappy shipboard and off-ship scenes featuring a variety of amenities and excursions. Cooper & Hayes, Carnival's longtime ad shop, created the work.

The ads will run on national broadcast programs and cable networks, including The West Wing, Will & Grace, CSI, Discovery Channel, A&E and MSNBC. They also will run on televisions in Carnival's 19,000 staterooms. While this represents Carnival's largest spending ever for television media for one campaign, Christine Arnholt, Carnival's vice president of marketing services, would only characterize the media buy as being in the "significant eight figures."

Like many ads from the cruise industry, these are designed to introduce the 86 percent of Americans who've never cruised to the cruise experience, Arnholt said. The spots expand on Carnival's "Fun Ships" branding, and target a variety of demographics, including families, couples, honeymooners, seniors and singles. These spots replace the company's 2-year-old "Real People" testimonial campaign.

Like other ads, they show both on- and off-ship options. With a minority of Americans having cruised, it's important to show the variety of events, Arnholt said. The company targets a cross section of U.S. consumers by using ads featuring celebrities like Kathie Lee Gifford and George Foreman. "The common denominator has been fun," Arnholt said.

In a quirky new take on its advertising, Mr. Coffee is spending time with young celebrities to try to reach the 36- to 45-year-old consumer market. New print ads for the coffeemaker feature MTV celebrity Carson Daly and Olympic bronze medal snowboarder Chris Klug. The ads are running in InStyle, Cooking Light and People magazines.

The campaign also includes a $1 million sweepstakes, in-store and radio promotions, and a live mall tour with personal appearances by Daly and Klug. Foote Cone & Belding Advertising, New York, is handling this project.

Winners from the consumer sweepstakes will be announced in first quarter 2003, said Alejandro Pena, vice president of marketing for global appliances and the Mr. Coffee brand.

The brand had long been known by older Boomers who grew up with the coffeemaker in their homes. The current user audience averages 55 years of age, said Mary Ann Knaus, vice president and general manager for Sunbeam's global appliance business. But with this effort, executives are repositioning the product for a younger audience with messages hitting on "hip and cool," with celebrities who are associated with pop culture, she said.

"The core of our current consumer base is a lot of people's parents," she said. "As they're aging, we're recognizing the need to bring more consumers into the brand. We want to appeal to a younger consumer segment without alienating the older, more loyal consumer."

Jeffery D. Zbar is a freelance writer. He can be reached at jeff@goinsoho.com.